The invention relates to comprising several disk bodies which are arranged in a stacked manner in a housing through which a cooling liquid flows. The bottom part of the disk bodies is formed by one of two spaced profiled plates which fit together, and the lid of the disk bodies is formed by the second plate, the edges of the spaced profiled plates being soldered together and enclosing a hollow space through which the oil flows that is to be cooled and which is connected with the hollow spaces of adjacent disk bodies by way of flow-through openings.
Disk oil coolers are known (German Patent Document DE-AS 28 43 423). During the manufacturing of the known disk oil coolers, the plates which form the outer walls of the chambers through which the oil flows are pushed onto a central tube and, by means of outwardly projecting collars arranged in the area of the tube and by means of inwardly directed molded-out edges arranged in the area of their outer circumference, are placed loosely against one another. Turbulence inserts are also inserted between the plates which form one oil chamber respectively. The plates which were stacked in this manner will then be soldered together. In this case, it must be ensured that the respective inner and outer edges of the plates are in sufficiently firm contact with the assigned parts of adjacent plates because otherwise no reliable soldering can be achieved. This requires relatively high expenditures.
An oil cooler of the initially mentioned type is also known (WO 88/04761). There flat tubular bodies are provided for oil coolers which are constructed of two oblong plate halves respectively. These plate halves are provided with surrounding edges which overlap one another and are soldered together. In this case, it is difficult to hold the longitudinal edges of the plate halves, which extend in parallel to one another, against one another in all areas so firmly for the soldering operation that the desired soldering gap or seam is obtained at every point.
It is an object of the present invention to simplify a disk oil cooler of the initially mentioned type with respect to the manufacturing.
For achieving this object, it is provided according to preferred embodiments of the invention that the edges are adapted to one another such that the outer edge is held at the inner edge in a catching manner and under tension. As a result of this measure, the individual disk bodies, even before the soldering operation, can easily be firmly joined together in the manner of a can and, in each case, without the aid of any mounting devices, can also hold the turbulence inserts assigned to them. When the thus formed disk bodies are then pushed onto the tube, there is also no risk of tilting because the two plates which belong to one another are already centered with respect to one another. During the subsequent soldering process, the advantage is also achieved that the edges which are held in one another in a locking manner and under tension form the desired narrow soldering gap surroundingly on the whole circumference and thus ensure a tight soldering-together. It is also an advantage that the soldering material, for example, in the form of soldering foils, can also be clipped in and held during the mechanical pre-assembly so that no additional operations are required for the manufacturing. In a simple manner, the plates may also be solder-plated so that the inserting of soldering foils will not be necessary.
Advantageous further developments of the object of the invention include provision that the required bracing is uniformly maintained over the whole circumference and is not, as in the state of the art, made impossible by straight edges. In preferred embodiments, the disk bodies can advantageously be placed on one another and joined together in a simple manner by providing that the plates have a circular or elliptic shape. Advantageous embodiments include providing both plates with interior and exterior chamfering, also aiding in the joining together of the plates. In preferred embodiments, an arrangement is provided wherein the annular wall section of the disk plates are each provided with chamfering which mutually engages with chamfering of the other of the disk plate annular wall sections to lockingly hold the plates together. This has the advantage that the two plates forming the hollow space do not have to be mutually spaced by separate measures. After their outer edges engage under tension, they are arranged at the correct distance from one another. The distance to the adjacent disk bodies may be ensured by providing an arrangement wherein the annular wall section of the top disk plate has an internally surrounding indentation and the annular wall section of the bottom disk plate has an externally surrounding edge which lockingly fits the internally surrounding indentation of the annular wall section of the top plate. Preferred embodiments include arrangements wherein the bottom disk plate is provided with an inwardly directed passage which can be pushed onto a central oil cooler tube, thus ensuring the simple positioning of the disk body on the central mounting tube in which case, at the same time, the mutual distance of the plates is also maintained at the inside diameter. Preferred embodiments include arrangements wherein the top disk plate has a central opening corresponding to the inwardly directed passage of the bottom disk plate, said opening being adapted to be pushed onto the tube, thus ensuring that the flow takes place through the hollow spaces, the type of the flow depending on the selected shape of the housing.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.